Unethical Lawyers

I just watched the recent CBS 60 Minutes exposé on unethical lawyers and "money laundering" and it's pretty eye-opening. It's one thing to know in a theoretical sense that this monkey business goes on, but quite another to actually see and hear the conversations behind the scenes.

Non-profit organization Global Witness went undercover on hidden camera to demonstrate just how easy it is for criminals from other countries to move their ill-gotten gains into the US through a maze of dummy corporations and offshore bank accounts. This would not be possible without the pivotal help of unethical lawyers who can easily earn retainers of $50,000 to $100,000 per case, for starters.

50 New York law firms with experience in private asset protection were approached by Global Witness and the investigator managed to get face-to-face meetings with 16 lawyers in 13 firms. Check it out here: Anonymous, Inc., but first fasten your seat belt and remove sharp objects from the viewing area.